The PBS filming my life

We are working at this time with pbs tv dakota life. Its very interesting and probabily you can see in this film many of my work that never displayed on a show. Which is great for me to display in this decomtery film.

PBS working my life story.

The PBS asked me to work about my life story in art art.

decomuntry film

The Obelisk of Axum

                       

                        The Spirit of Axum

 

This drawing is one of the pieces displayed from the Axum series at the new Black Sheep Coffee House on North Cliff and Benson. This new Black Sheep will be a permanent place for my pieces.

 

Background

 

            Axum, or Aksum, is a city in northern Ethiopia named after the Kingdom of Aksum, a naval and trading power that ruled from the region ca. 400 BC into the 10^th century. The kingdom was occasionally referred to in medieval writings as “ Ethiopia”. It was the centre of the (eventual) Christian marine trading power the Aksumite Kingdom, which predated the earliest mentions in Roman era writings (around the time of the birth of Jesus) in good correlation to the expansion of Rome into northern Africa, and later when it developed into the Christian kingdom, was a quasi-ally of Byzantium against the day’s Persian Empire. The historical record is unclear, primary sources being in the main limited to ancient church records. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church claims to possess the Ark of the Covenant or tabot in Axum. The object is now kept under guard in a treasury near the Church or tabot in Axum. The object is now kept under guard in a treasury near the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion, and used occasionally in ritual processions. But versions of the Aksum

tabot are kept in every Ethiopian church, each with its own dedication to a particular saint, most popularly Mary, George and Michael. It has been plausibly suggested that the claim that the Aksum tabot is the real thing.

Concept

            These paintings were done under the inspiration of the Byzantine Art period. Also, it was inspired by the return of the after 71 years from the Italian government or the Obelisk of Axum. This awakened a strong nationalistic movement in the Ethiopian people. This is why it is like a new period art for me as a an artist. It's funny because The Italian Government thought it a victory after stealing it from Ethiopia. This would be the equivelent of us taking the Mona Lisa from Italy and rejoicing over it. It does not make much sense. However, the reason why I chose this concept is because I believe it is crucial to understand and express my roots that are apart of my artistic identity. I used many elements in this series including the 300 B.C architect movement which I took this and started to incorporate it into my artwork progressing it into a new level and perspective. Most of the paintings are based on Christian symbolic elements that are mixed into my paintings creating a language in art form. This form has layers that build on each other to convey a message to the inward parts of a human soul with the use of symbolic religious elements. There are many more religious pieces on the site.

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Vine of Axum

 

 

 

            This is the last painting I painted on the concept of Axum. However, I am interested in using elements of Axum in my future paintings because they are apart of my artistic techniques. Basically, I will not be evolving the concept of Axum but taking the elements from it and incorporate it into other ideas.

            This painting is different from any other painting because I used the medium of oil paint and used it to make it look like watercolor. I have also created it using pastel colors to make it look more like a drawing. This was the challenging part but it is also the same part that gives the painting its quality.

            The circles, birds, Axum, and the leaves represent my personal ambitions and pride I have for Ethiopia but in an abstract way. As a verb, “to abstract” means to take from, to extract the essence of a thing or idea. In a basic sense, of course, all art is abstract because it is not possible for the artist to reproduce exactly what is seen. Other good examples of abstract artists include: William De Kooning, Richard Diebenkorn and Lee Bontecou. Nevertheless, abstract cannot be naturally in you but it is something that needs to be developed over time as a language.

Invisible and Visible

                      

         

              This is a depiction of a memory and dream infused together in my mind. The circles represent an element of Ethiopian traditional that have been changed into a modern concept that create an airy space and volume in the painting. In this age, painting has become more spontaneous because of the technique of working in the subconcious mind which allows a painter to paint what he truly feels. The painter is also able to capture thoughts that flash into the mind and be transformed into an art form. However, the composition of this piece breaks the traditional symmetrical attributes to my other paintings. Thus, this painting is like a new birth for me that gave me the idea to create my next painting The Beginning.

Aura of Axum

                                          

            

 

          This painting represents Axum which is one of the most significant Christian empires that reigned from 400 B.C to the 10th century. I want to depict this power by using it in different forms of primitive art.  This differs from the rest of the paintings I have done on this concept because I have taken the motifs and used them in a composition to truly reveal Axum. However, there are still repetitious symbols incorporated into this that I use in many of my other paintings as a character that slowly helps me to progress into a level where viewers can see me through my paintings. The fact is, art must be able to display the general but also have the ability to relate to the viewer as though they are looking at themselves in a mirror to capture an individualistic identity in art. Art has to speak in a language that allows others to see.  A good example of this is artist Skunder Boghossian. Who has taken “significant sites from Ethiopia” and turned it into a modern  art..

 

“For him, the systematic decomposition of culture, history and naturally of creativity on the psyche of people of color is sadly very significant. For him also, the universality in the culture of the creative history of people of color is a consequential reality and hence, the symbolic agreement of the jazz lyric of the African American, the harmonious chant of the Ethiopian and the rhythmical tune of the singer from Mali. In Skunder's words all his works are "a perpetual celebration of the diversity of blackness."  

 

Also, another example is artist Wosene Kosrof .

 

(This is a painting I have from Wosene when he was attending an Ethiopian fine arts school)

 

 

“Wosene Worke Kosrof has explored the aesthetic potential of language, using the written symbols of his native Amharic as the major compositional element in his work. In his paintings, the calligraphic forms of Amharic are broken apart, abstracted, and reconfigured to create a new visual language that draws upon the artist's Ethiopian heritage while incorporating his experiences as an expatriate living in the United States. As Wosene explains (the artist has chosen his first name as his professional name), "The symbols bring my culture to me and at the same time I recreate my culture with the symbols, producing a unique international visual language."”

 

            All in all, these artists have made a substantial impact on Ethiopian art culture as well as raise the awareness of the art into a different perspective by adding highly skilled Ethiopian embroidery and design. Artists such as this have come out of one root but have different branches and styles.

 

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